Hair brush

ABSTRACT

A hair brush is disclosed herein that includes a handle, a base and a plurality of bristles, wherein the base and the plurality of bristles are one single continuous component. A method of producing a sanitary hair brush comprises: a) providing at least one curable material, b) injection molding the at least one material into a mold in order to produce a base, a handle, a plurality of bristles or a combination thereof as one single continuous component.

FIELD OF THE SUBJECT MATTER

The field of the subject matter is a hair brush that is designed suchthat it does not collect dead skin cells, hair products, water,bacteria, and/or dirt allowing it to be easily cleaned, effectivelydisinfected and kept sanitary after each use.

BACKGROUND

There are as many different hair brushes as there are hairs on a head,and yet, most hair brushes are designed the same way. Hair brushes havethree primary parts: the handle, the base and a plurality of bristlesarranged on the base. The bristles are usually made out of a materialthat is durable and suitable to interact with hair, while the base isusually made out of material that is durable, suitable to hold thebristles and, in some instances, able to perform other tasks—such asheating hair in order to straighten it or curl it, depending on theshape of the base.

The problem with most brushes is substantially related to the way thatthey are designed and assembled. Each bristle is stuck separately intothe base, such that there is at the very least a plurality of exposedholes in the base where the bristles fit. Given that the bristles maynot completely fill the holes, there are some areas of the base wheredead skin cells, hair products, water, bacteria, and/or dirt cancollect. When all of this unwanted material collects on the base, theexposed holes can fill up with a resin-like mix of materials that cannotbe easily removed with routine cleaning. In other brush designs, thebase has tracks where lines of bristles fit. Again, in these designs,mixtures of unwanted materials settle in the track areas making itdifficult to easily clean and properly disinfect.

It would be ideal to develop a brush design that would be easy tomanufacture, easy to use and most importantly, easy to clean, properlydisinfect and keep sanitary.

SUMMARY

A sanitary hair brush is disclosed herein that includes a handle, a baseand a plurality of bristles, wherein the base and the plurality ofbristles are one single continuous component.

A method of producing a sanitary hair brush comprises: a) providing atleast one curable material, b) injection molding the at least onematerial into a mold in order to produce a base, a handle, a pluralityof bristles or a combination thereof as one single continuous component.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIGS. 1A and 1B show an upper and a side view of a contemplated hairbrush, wherein the hair brush has been molded into one single continuouspiece of material.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show an upper and a side view of a contemplated hairbrush, wherein the hair brush base and plurality of bristles have beenmolded into one single continuous piece of material and the handle isdesigned to be detachable.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A brush design has been developed that is easy to manufacture, easy touse and most importantly, easy to clean, properly disinfect and keepsanitary. A hair brush is disclosed herein that includes a handle, abase and a plurality of bristles, wherein the base and the plurality ofbristles are one single component.

FIGS. 1A and 1B show an upper 100 and a side 105 view of a contemplatedhair brush, wherein the hair brush has been molded into one singlecontinuous piece of material. In FIG. 1A, the upper view 100 of thebrush can be seen that comprises a base 110, a handle 120 and aplurality of bristles 130. FIG. 1B shows the side view 105 of the samebrush comprising a base 110, a handle 120 and a plurality of bristles130.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show an upper 200 and a side view 205 of a contemplatedhair brush, wherein the hair brush base and plurality of bristles havebeen molded into one single continuous piece of material and the handleis designed to be detachable. In FIG. 2A, the upper view 200 of thebrush can be seen that comprises a base 210, a detachable handle 220 anda plurality of bristles 230, wherein the handle is detachable at point225 from the base 210. It should be understood that the detachment point225 is designed such that the base 210 can be used alone and apart fromthe handle 220, while allowing for both pieces to be easily cleaned.Also, the detachment point 225 is not designed such that it will act asa collection point for dirt, hair products, dead skin cells, water andbacteria after a simple cleaning. In FIG. 2B, the side view 205 of thebrush can be seen that comprises a base 210, a detachable handle 220 anda plurality of bristles 230, wherein the handle is detachable at point225 from the base 210.

A contemplated brush design is molded or otherwise produced in such away as to have the base and the plurality of bristles be one continuouspiece of material. In some embodiments, the one continuous piece ofmaterial is designed and produced such that it has no divits,depressions, grooves, holes and/or other spots on the surface of thebase where unwanted matter can collect.

A method of producing a sanitary hair brush comprises: a) providing atleast one curable material, b) injection molding the at least onematerial into a mold in order to produce a base, a handle, a pluralityof bristles or a combination thereof as one single continuous component.In some embodiments, a curable material may be injection molded in orderto form a base-bristle component. In another embodiment, a couple ofdifferent materials may be injection molded in order to produce abase-bristle component, wherein the bristles are made from one type ofmaterial that transitions into another type of material for the base.So, for example, a material that cures into a flexible, but durablematerial may be injected first in order to form the bristles, and amaterial that cures into a harder material may be later infused andinjected later into the molding process to form the harder base.

In some embodiments, the handle may be one piece of material, along withthe base and the plurality of bristles. In another embodiment, thehandle may be removable, in that different handles can be attached tothe base-bristles component in order to provide the user with differentfunctionality. For example, a handle may be a traditional plastic handledesigned to be rinsed off and reused. Another contemplated handle may beround and covered in a grippable material. Another contemplated handlemay be one that contains an inner compartment that can hold a smallitem, such as a lipstick or a small bottle of hairspray, as long as theinner compartment and handle is designed such that it will not act as acollection point for dirt, hair products, dead skin cells, water andbacteria after a simple cleaning. This type of handle can be used withthe base-bristle component when the user is traveling or going out forthe evening.

A contemplated handle may be cylindrical or tubular (including oval orelliptical), triangular, square, polygonal, wider at one end than theother, and can be designed in any shape allowing a person to grab andutilize the hairbrush. For example, the hairbrush handle can becylindrical with depressions large enough to accommodate the width of aperson's fingers or the handle can have a flat, rectangular body. Acontemplated handle may have a continuously curved convex region andradially smaller end regions. A contemplated handle may comprise and/orbe covered with a grippable material, as long as the grippable materialdoes not collect or allow for the collection of dirt, hair products,dead skin cells, water and bacteria after a simple cleaning.

In a contemplated embodiment, the hair brush may comprise the samematerial for all of the components, including the handle, the base andthe plurality of bristles. A contemplated material may comprise plastic,polymer material, composite material, graphite material, a metal-basedmaterial, a sustainable or “green” material, such as bamboo or acombination thereof.

A contemplated hair brush can be manufactured with differentcombinations of materials, lengths, diameters and in different colors.The handle segment can be manufactured in any desired shape and does notnecessarily have to match the shape of the base of the hair brush. Forexample, a contemplated handle can have a circular cross-sectionalshape, an elliptical cross-sectional shape, a triangular cross-sectionalshape, a square cross-sectional shape, a trapezoidal cross-sectionalshape or a polygonal cross-sectional shape.

Thus, specific embodiments and applications of a novel and sanitary hairbrush have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to thoseskilled in the art that many more modifications besides those alreadydescribed are possible without departing from the inventive conceptsherein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restrictedexcept in the spirit of the disclosure herein. Moreover, in interpretingthe disclosure, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possiblemanner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises”and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements,components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that thereferenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized,or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are notexpressly referenced.

1. A sanitary hair brush, comprising: a handle, a base; and a pluralityof bristles, wherein the base and the plurality of bristles are onesingle continuous component.
 2. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein thehandle is one continuous component with the base and the plurality ofbristles.
 3. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the handle is detachablefrom the continuous component.
 4. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein thehandle, the base and the plurality of bristles comprise the samematerial.
 5. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the handle, the base andthe plurality of bristles comprise different materials.
 6. The hairbrush of claim 1, wherein the handle is a plastic handle designed to berinsed off and reused.
 7. The hair brush of claim 1, wherein the handleis round and comprises a grippable material.
 8. The hair brush of claim1, wherein the handle comprises an inner compartment that can hold asmall item.
 9. The hair brush of claim 8, wherein the small itemcomprises a lipstick or a small bottle of hairspray.
 10. The hair brushof claim 1, wherein the brush is formed by injection molding.
 11. Thehair brush of one of claim 4 or 5, wherein the material comprisesplastic, polymer material, composite material, graphite material,metal-based material, a sustainable or “green” material, such as bambooor a combination thereof.
 12. A method of producing a sanitary hairbrush comprising: providing at least one curable material, injectionmolding the at least one material into a mold in order to produce abase, a handle, a plurality of bristles or a combination thereof as onesingle continuous component.